Wait and see for Thai tourist sector

By Will Smale
Business reporter, BBC News

Travel firms are telling tourists not to photograph Thai tanks

As tanks continue to fill the streets of Bangkok, UK tourists appear to be going about their holidays relatively unaffected.

Tour operators say they have no plans to cancel flights to Thailand, and UK holiday companies insist that "it's very much business as usual".

With tourism being such a key component of the Thai economy - attracting 15 million overseas visitors last year and contributing more than 6% of the national economy - this will be welcome news for the many Thais who rely on the sector for their livelihoods.

We have a flight going out to Thailand from the UK today and everyone due to travel will be doing so Thomson spokeswoman

Yet while both the UK and German governments are still saying it is safe for their nationals to travel to Thailand, other nations, such as Australia and New Zealand are currently urging their citizens to stay away.

Whether the coup knocks Thailand's tourist industry to the same extent as the immediate aftermath of 2004's tsunami appears to rest on how the political impasse continues to develop, most notably whether things turn violent.

Quiet season

While it is fair to say that coups are never good news for a country's holiday industry, this one has at least come at a convenient time of the year for the Thai tourist sector - it is currently the quiet season.

For that reason the UK's Foreign Office currently estimates that 2,000 Britons are on holiday in Thailand, way below the 8,000-to-9,000 on any one day during the peak November-to-February period, when temperatures are cooler and there is less rain.

And the great majority of UK holidaymakers visit the main beach resorts and islands in the south of the country, many hundreds of miles away from the ongoing situation in Bangkok.

"It's very much business as usual, with flights to and from Thailand continuing as normal," says Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at the Association of British Travel Agents.

"It's really only Britons who are in the centre of Bangkok who are likely to be affected by the coup.

"These people will need to be aware of what's going on and should not, for example, take pictures of the military."

HAVE YOUR SAY My business partners in Thailand seem to be relieved and feel that the country will move forward Richard Kamalanathan, Kuala Lumpur Send us your comments

Holiday firm Thomson, which currently has around 200 Britons in Thailand, agrees.

"All our people out there are fine," says a Thomson spokeswoman. "Most are in coastal resorts."

She added: "We have a flight going out to Thailand from the UK today and everyone due to travel will be doing so."

In Germany, the country's main airline Lufthansa said all flights to Bangkok were continuing as normal.

'Avoid demonstrations'

Yet despite the relative calm of British and German authorities and holiday companies, their Australian and New Zealand counterparts are being much more cautious.

Thailand's main tourism region is way to the south of Bangkok

The Australian government has told its citizens - be they holidaymakers or business people - to avoid all unnecessary trips to Thailand until the political situation is clarified.

By contrast, the UK Foreign Office is simply warning Britons in Thailand to stay on their guard and be sensible.

"If you intend to travel to, or are currently in, Thailand, you should monitor all available information on the local situation and keep in contact with your tour operator," it says.

"You should also avoid any demonstrations and large crowds.

"Movements around government buildings in Bangkok and in public may be restricted until the situation becomes clearer."

Only time and developments will tell whether Thailand's tourism industry is affected to any serious degree by the coup.

However, the sector proved its ongoing popularity with overseas tourists by recovering strongly and quickly from 2004's tsunami - overseas visitor numbers in 2005 rose 15% to 13.38 million.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Western holiday companies must be hoping for the same resilience again.